Online Courts and the Future of Justice

Abstract

My subject this evening is that of online courts and – more broadly -the potential of technology for reshaping the public justice system. 1 Our world is changing rapidly through technological development. I am neither a technology enthusiast nor sceptic. But I am interested in how technology is already altering how we 'do justice' and how our system might be significantly remodelled in the future. I was an early adopter of new technology. I started using computers to analyse empirical data in Cambridge in 1972 -when a machine with possibly less processing power than my current iPhone occupied an entire building, and the simplest tasks would require me to write complicated Fortran codes and then wait overnight to discover if I had missed a space or comma and have to start all over again. So I am long familiar with the power of technology to sort and analyse. I am also certain of the value of rigorous data to support and evaluate justice system policy. During a career researching the operation of civil courts and tribunals [often closeted in court basements poring over paper files] I have frequently despaired in public about the state of court hardware and data, and I do not need convincing about the scope for improved justice system technology. 2 This is a problem I shall return to later. But we are standing now on the brink of significant change. In September 2016 the Lord Chancellor, Lord Chief Justice, and Senior President of Tribunals published a joint vision statement signalling a 'once in a lifetime' £1billion transformation of the justice system 3 . The proposals will affect how the justice system operates, the public experience of it and how legal professionals and judiciary will function within new structures and processes. Some of this -because of the pressure to get the money out of the door while it's still available -is happening quite fast by the standards of justice system reform. To put the transformation programme in a broader context, it can be seen as part of a global trend, which is particularly prevalent in common law jurisdictions. Although it is fashionable in the discourse around technology and the courts to suggest that courts haven't changed since the C19th, in fact, courts and tribunals have always been evolving. Although some procedural issues remain surprisingly impervious to change, the process of development and reform has been pretty constant. And the landscape of dispute resolution has also altered, with the advent of a plethora of private dispute resolution mechanisms now available including mediation, conciliation, adjudication, ombudsmen, ENE, and, of course, ODR (Online Dispute Resolution).